Columbus debunker sets sights on Leonardo da Vinci | U.S. | Reuters
Quote:
LONDON (Reuters) - Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of machines are uncannily similar to Chinese originals and were undoubtedly derived from them, a British amateur historian says in a newly-published book.
Gavin Menzies sparked headlines across the globe in 2002 with the claim that Chinese sailors reached America 70 years before Christopher Columbus.
Now he says a Chinese fleet brought encyclopedias of technology undiscovered by the West to Italy in 1434, laying the foundation for the engineering marvels such as flying machines later drawn by Italian polymath Leonardo.
"Everything known to the Chinese by the year 1430 was brought to Venice," said Menzies, a retired Royal Navy submarine commander, in an interview at his north London home....
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To be honest, this seems like rubbish to me. I read Gavin Menzies's earlier work:
and was not impressed by his historical "evidence" or reasoning. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts to add on this or if you have read the new book:
While I admire the consideration and appreciation of ancient China, her accomplishments, and her culture, I don't think using the "China did it first" card to try to overturn every significant "European" discovery is going to get anywhere in serious historical and archaeological scholarship. Menzies is an admirer of Zheng He, the eunuch admiral who led a famed fleet of Ming exploratory ships to several places across the globe:
Zheng He - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When Ming China stopped these explorations and destroyed the ships, it probably opened the way for the Spanish and Portuguese in the Far East, and history as we know it. It makes one wonder what if... (But I don't mean "what if" according to Menzies's version of events.)
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Teach a Wall Street banker how to build a fire and he'll be warm for the night. Set a Wall Street banker on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Logic
The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.
--Ambrose Bierce,
The Devil's Dictionary
